


Forged By Fire

by BiconBane



Series: BAMF Prince Of Hell High Warlock [5]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: BAMF Magnus Bane, Battle Axes, Bladed Weapons, Flirting, M/M, Sparring, Sword Fighting, Weapons Training
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-19
Updated: 2017-08-19
Packaged: 2018-12-17 08:03:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11847384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BiconBane/pseuds/BiconBane
Summary: Magnus looked up. “Oh, since you asked,” he said, and Alec turned around to hide a smile. “Your grip is too low.”Jace blinked, twice in quick secession and actually brought one of his axes up to eye level to check his grip on it. After a second, he shook his head and lowered his weapon. With a smirk Alec knew too well, he said, “and I suppose you’re an expert on battle axes then?”Magnus smiled.





	Forged By Fire

**Author's Note:**

> For Ciel. Axes are cool, man.

Adrenaline was a hell of a drug, Alec thought as he ducked Jace’s swipe at his head. It would make an untrained fighter shaky and unsteady, but with the two of them… 

 

Weapons flashed quickly through the air, colliding together with a loud  _ clangs _ of metal, the blows vibrating up their arms. It brought a grin to Alec’s face.

 

He twisted out of the way of Jace’s upswing, shoving him the chest to make the axe whistling towards his head go wide. Alec kicked out, his boot meeting Jace’s knee, and he sent his already off-balanced brother tumbling to the ground.

 

A wolf whistle echoed through the courtyard. Magnus leant against the doorway, his ankles crossed, and an amused smile on his face. “Very nice,” he said.

 

Alec’s smile grew. “Hey,” he said, taking both his swords in his left hand as he headed over to Magnus. He caught Jace’s “thanks _ brother _ ,” but ignored it in favor of pressing a soft kiss to Magnus’ lips.

 

“Sorry,” he said, “I’m sweaty.”

 

Magnus hummed. “I can see that,” he said. “It’s a good look for you.”

 

Jace groaned. “No flirting,” he said as he shoved himself to his feet and retrieved one of his axes. “We’re supposed to be training.”

 

Alec waved him off. “What are you doing here?” he asked Magnus instead. “I thought you had a client.”

 

“Oh I did,” Magnus said. “He called to cancel, something about the FBI. I wouldn’t worry about it. Since I was suddenly free, I thought I’d stop by.”

 

“Oh, well, if you wanted to wait for me to shower, we could go somewhere,” Alec said.

 

Jace sighed dramatically and twirled one of his battle axes with a fake pout on his face. “Sure, sure,” he said, “abandon me for your boyfriend, I’ll be fine.”

 

Alec was about to tell his brother, in no certain terms, to fuck off when Magnus patted him on the chest. “Go finish your training session, I don’t have anywhere to be. And, besides,” in a snap of his fingers and a flash of blue light, Magnus was holding a book about twice the size of Alec’s bicep that was definitely written in a language he could not understand. “I have some light reading to catch up on.”

 

Alec watched him make his way over to one of the stone benches in the courtyard until Jace cleared his throat loudly. He flipped his axe in the air and caught it with a pointedly raised eyebrow. Alec rolled his eyes, but switched the grip on his swords.

 

The flat of his blade hit Jace’s leg with a decisive  _ thwap _ and Alec let out a little laugh as Jace sighed in frustration. In four boughts, he had gotten three winning hits to Jace’s one, and his little brother was starting to get a bit frustrated.

 

“Damn it,” Jace said, his lips twisted downward in something reminiscent of what Alec remembered of his truly epic childhood sulks.

 

A snort. Jace and Alec turned to look at Magnus, who turned a page in his book.

 

“You got something to say?” Jace asked, frowning.

 

Magnus looked up. “Oh, since you asked,” he said, and Alec turned around to hide a smile. “Your grip is too low.”

 

Jace blinked, twice in quick secession and actually brought one of his axes up to eye level to check his grip on it. After a second, he shook his head and lowered his weapon. With a smirk Alec knew  _ too  _ well, he said, “and I suppose you’re an expert on battle axes then?”

 

Magnus smiled. Gently, he closed his book and set it on the bench beside him, and stood, slowly. He slipped his slick black jacket over his shoulders and tossed it haphazardly on the bench.

 

“Expert is not an easy word to define,” Magnus said, as he reached a hand out. “But I certainly think  _ you _ have some things to learn.”

 

When Jace didn’t offer them up, Magnus simply reached out and plucked both of the battle axes straight from his hands. As Jace stared at him, stunned, Magnus twirled both the axes in his hands and shook his head.

 

“This is excessive,” he said. “This is made entirely out of metal, is there any reason for that at all?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “Oh, and the leather grip, don’t even get me started.”

 

Jace finally found his voice. “What’s -- I mean, do you really have any room to complain about being  _ excessive _ ?”

 

Magnus shot him a disappointed look over the axe he was inspecting. Alec put a hand over his mouth to muffle his laughter. “It’s true I have an appreciation the finer things in life; like that coat -- it was $2000 -- and your brother, but when it comes to weapons, I prefer practical over…  _ cool _ .”

 

Jace floundered and Alec tried to hide his faint blush, but Magnus just sighed in irritation. “Still,” he said, “I suppose they’ll have to do.”

 

He flipped one of the battle axes over in his hand, grasping the hated leather grip, and, with in rippling of muscles, threw it. It whistled inches past Jace’s head and embedded itself in a large clumping of vines crawling their way up the stone wall.

 

Alec and Jace both turned to stare at the axe. “You’re not going to use both?” Alec asked faintly. His own grip was more slack than he carried to admit around the hilts his duel swords.

 

There was a brief flash of blue light and a soft  _ pop _ . Alec turned around to see Magnus had magically pried the leather grip off the battle axe, and had compensated with a pair of leather gloves. Alec distantly wondered if he could call that cheating.

 

“Oh, no,” Magnus said as he sliced the axe through the air. “I won’t need it.”

 

Jace shot Alec a look that definitely meant  _ good fucking luck, bro _ and backed away. Alec took a deep breath and readied himself and he blades. Magnus shot him a smile that was  _ definitely _ cheating, and took a stance himself.

 

Alec attacked first. It was a lot strike, slower than usual, and Magnus stepped out of the way easily. He shot Alec a massively unimpressed look. Alec smiled and attacked again.

 

A sweeping blow towards Magnus head, followed by a harder one directly to the chest. Magnus ducked and then, in the blink of an eye, he was standing inside Alec’s guard. Before he could stop it, Alec’s sword guard crashed down on Magnus’ raised wrist. A flash of orange light, the sword shuttered to a stop, and Alec could feel a sharp point of cold metal pressed against his throat.

 

“No going easy on me,” Magnus murmured.

 

Alec nodded dumbly, tearing his gaze away from Magnus’ mouth.

 

“You used magic,” Jace said loudly. “That’s cheating.”

 

Magnus backed away from Alec. “I have my magic, you have your runes and another axe,” he twirled his axe. “Again,” he said.

 

Angel, but Magnus was fast. His grip was at least an inch higher than Jace’s, and he swung the battle axe with speed enough to match Alec’s faster short swords. 

 

He deflected one of Alec’s strikes and twisted, hooking the blade with battle axe’s pike and pulled, sending the blade clattering to the ground. He dodged out of the way of Alec’s answering swipe, spun and leapt to his feet.

 

Magnus brought his axe above his head to strike and Alec moved to counter, but in a vicious twist, Magnus feinted. He brought the axe down in a blow that would have ripped across Alec’s chest had Magnus not stopped the blade inches away.

 

Magnus looked up at Alec and flashed him a smug smirk before twirling the axe and backing off a few steps.

 

“Oh come on,” Jace said. “You’re going easy on him.”

 

Alec wiped sweat away from his brow. “Not that time I wasn’t,” he panted. 

 

“It is supposed to be your lesson,” Magnus said as he raised an eyebrow at Jace. “Care for some hands on learning?”

 

Jace smirked. “Hell yeah.”

 

He hurried over and took the swords from Alec’s hands as he shrugged helplessly at Magnus. Alec would be a little more apologetic if he didn’t already know what the outcome would be.

 

He was right. Magnus gave Jace the dignity of dodging and parrying his first five blows before he blocked a particularly strong one with a shield of magic. Jace’s lip curled up in frustration and he back up a step, and volted directly over the shield.

 

Magic glowed bright at Magnus’ heel and he took two steps forward, sliding on his knees behind Jace as Alec’s brother sailed straight over his head. By the time Jace landed, Magnus was already on his feet, axe whirling through the air.

 

The sound the flat side of the battle axe made when it connected with Jace’s shoulder made Alec wince and Jace’s shout echoed around the courtyard. Jace stumbled forward, utterly off balance because of his jump and Magnus’ blow. By the time Jace got his feet underneath him again, the razor sharp edge of the axe’s blade was hovering mere centimeters away from his temple.

 

“Lesson learned, Shadowhunter?” Magnus asked.

 

Jace raised his hands slowly, and, reluctantly, nodded.

 

“Excellent,” Magnus said, and promptly dropped his axe on the ground. He turned with a flourish and extended a hand toward Alec. “I think your training session is done then?”

  
Alec laughed and strode forward to take his hand and lace their fingers together. “Oh  _ absolutely _ .”

**Author's Note:**

> I learned a lot about axes to write this. You should have seen the essay I typed out about how bullshit Jace's battle axes to my friend once I realized they were all metal with a leather grip. Magnus complained about them for me.
> 
> I typed out another essay to my friend about how Jace is pretty bad at fighting with bladed weapons and how Alec is much better at it then him too. And Magnus, naturally, kicks everyone's ass.
> 
> As always, I hope everyone liked this, and please leave a comment if you did!


End file.
